


Art to the Heart

by nepenthe_writer



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Artist Steve Rogers, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-05-30 18:34:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19408996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nepenthe_writer/pseuds/nepenthe_writer
Summary: Steve streams his artwork with Tony's help moderating the chat room. Things get interesting when Steve gets requests to draw his cute moderator.





	Art to the Heart

The room was cozy as Tony laid across the couch, feet over the back and head hanging off of the seat. It wasn’t the most comfortable position in the world and was sure to lead to a crick in his neck if he stayed there for very long but Tony was bored at the moment and he had decided that having blood rush to his head might just help to give him the inspiration that he needed until his roommate got home.

Ever since graduating from MIT Tony had been doing some independent IT work for the military, a job his best friend Rhodey had helped him get. It wasn’t much since he wasn’t a full time employee but it was enough to pay the bills while he worked on his real passion of coding and robotics. His plan was to revolutionize the manufacturing industry and take it by storm.

If he could perfect rudimentary AIs then that could make manufacturing more streamlined and in turn bring down the cost for green energy materials. Making the world better for those that lived on it was a goal that Tony’d had since the days that he had begun showing his advanced intelligence. Maria had always talked about his intelligence as though it were a gift to be treasured and at just six years old Tony had been stuck on the idea of sharing gifts with other people and it was something that he had never grown out of.

Howard hadn’t been onboard with the idea of his only son not following in his footsteps into the weapons manufacturing business and had done his best to try and mold Tony into what he wanted him to become regardless of how Tony felt on the matter.

Tony’s saving grace had been Maria. Once Tony had graduated from college and had planned on turning his attention towards improving the green energy movement Howard had ended up issuing an ultimatum to him, either work on designing weapons for Stark Industries or be cut out of the family penniless.

Pride and the desire to prove himself had sent Tony for the door without a backwards glance. He would rather stay true to himself then cower in front of his father even if it meant being broke. That is where Maria had stepped in. While Howard could and did cut him off from the Stark family fortune with nothing that Maria could do about that because of the prenuptial agreement that she had signed before she married Howard, she in turn had her own family money from before getting married that due to that same prenuptial agreement Howard couldn’t touch. Maria had been determined to see her son succeed and had made sure that he had the safety net needed to get by without Howard’s involvement.

Just because Tony had his mother helping him out though didn’t mean that he didn’t want to show that he could stand on his own two feet. He had gone out and gotten a job and in order to be able to afford his rent he had gotten a roommate by posting an ad on the bulletin board at the coffee shop on the NYU campus.

Steve had been the one to answer the ad and ever since the two of them had gotten along like a house on fire. Steve was a student in the art program at NYU and was putting himself through college and so was on a tight budget and finding a roommate, even one as eccentric as Tony could sometimes be had been a saving grace for the artist.

It hadn’t taken them long to find a rhythm that worked for both of them. Steve got the bright corner of the living room that got the most light for his easel and as much space as his drop cloth could contain. Tony got the dining room table for his workspace to spread out with his coding and miniature AI robots. The couch and coffee table were the two places that they shared when it can to their work and hobbies.

Between Steve's digital art and Tony’s computer know how they had even come together to find a way to share Steve’s talent with a wider audience. It had started small with Tony helping Steve to livestream his art while he was working on it to his best friend Bucky while he was away on tour with the military. It had been a way for the two friends to keep in touch while they were separated and at the encouragement from Bucky, Steve had begun to stream his work out on the general internet for anyone to see and watch.

It had surprised the blonde when he had started to develop a following. It had gotten to the point where Tony had stepped in again to offer his technical help. Instead of just helping to set up a more stable stream given the increase in traffic Tony had also set up a chat room for those that enjoyed watching Steve work and had stayed on to moderate it when it had proved too tempting for some trolls. It hadn’t taken Tony long to ban them and track their IP addressed down to keep them from coming back. Steve may be the more vocal of the two of them about not liking bullies but Tony had no love for them either, especially given how he had been picked on by his peers growing up.

Today was one of their two weekly streaming sessions and so when Steve walked in the door Tony was already flipping around on the couch to sit on it properly and grabbing his laptop. He quickly booted up the machine listening as the fans began to whirl and the box asking for his password popped up. A few quick key strokes and he was logged in and pulling up the programs that he would need. Across the table from him Steve was getting his digital sketch tools set up and ready to go.

"So what's the theme for today going to be," asked Tony as he started the timer for the stream to start and opened up the chat.

"I was thinking that I'd get some practice with some landscapes. It's been a while since I've tried my hand at one of those, no good models here for it in the city, and the animal shelter a few blocks over commissioned me for a few pieces," Steve answered as he made a few quick test lines on the digital sketch pad. "They do good work down there and I don't want to give them anything less than my best."

With that Steve set to work letting the pen flow across the pad and Tony watched along with everyone else that were joining into the livestream as the first few lines took shape on the screen and began to form the basics of a woodland forest. The chat started off fast and furious as everyone was quick to say hi if they were a regular viewer or ask questions if they were new to the stream. Tony keep an eye on things making sure no one was being abusive and answering questions as they came up.

Even as he watched the chat and the stream Tony couldn’t help but let some of his attention wander to the man sitting next to him on the couch. The focused expression on Steve’s face and the way his tongue tended to stick out of the left side, never the right side, of his mouth when he was really concentrating on getting a part just right never ceased to hold Tony’s attention. There was just something about Steve that drew Tony in and made him want to have all of that attention, all of that focus, directed towards him and nothing else. Tony could only imagine how that would feel, being the center of the universe if only for a minute of Steve’s time.

Tony’d had more than one daydream to that effect and more than one wet dream and jerk off session with those thoughts swirling through his head. As much as he could be loud and obnoxious in most other parts of his life Tony had never spoken up about the way that he had come to feel about his roommate.

It wasn’t fear of rejection that had kept Tony silent. He’d had his fair share of that through the years. Instead it was fear of losing out on what he already had. Since he had been more advanced than his peers in the world of academics, Tony hadn’t had the chance to make many friends his own age and he didn’t want to risk losing that with Steve when it had come to mean so much to him.

One hour and three rough sketches of different landscapes later Steve was twisting the pencil around between his fingers and looking around the room. Tony had known Steve long enough to know the signs of his friend searching for new inspiration for what to draw and decided to take some initiative.

Mod: Steve is “drawing” a blank at the moment. Anyone want to throw out any ideas for what he could draw up. No promises made though.

Instantly the chat began filling up with different suggestions from the views as they all tried to be the one to get their idea picked. Suggestions ranged from different architecture to compliment the landscapes that had already been drawn all the way to sparkly pink unicorns shooting rainbows out of their butts raced through the messages.

Tony chuckled as he read some of the more outlandish ones to Steve watching his friend laugh and shake his head at the things their viewers could come up with. Gradually one idea seemed to pick up steam among some of the more regular viewers of the stream.

_DorsalAxe_ : How about drawing your mod  
 _FadedTech_ : Yeah, you talk about him all the time. Draw Tony  
 _VenusDeMilo76_ : OMG YES!!! Draw him. Totally want to see the cutie you keep talking to

Tony couldn’t help but blush as he read out the requests, paraphrasing some of them as he went. While he was by no means shy, far from it, Tony didn’t want Steve to think that he was just trying to pressure him into something.

Steve flashed him a bright smile as he opened up a new blank document.

“Well it sounds like we’ve got a winner there don’t we now Tony,” said Steve as the pencil began drawing the first few lines onto the digital page. “It would be pretty rude not to give the people what they want.”

The chat started lighting up again at Steve’s comments telling him how right he was and calling him cute for his flirting with Tony. Tony did his best to ignore those comments knowing that nothing would come from them and that it was better to not get his hopes up in the first place then to put his heart out there just to have it rejected and broken and lose what he already treasured so much.

Just because he knew it would be ridiculous to hope for Steve to feel the same way about him didn’t mean that he could completely smother all of his feelings. Just watching Steve begin to draw a picture of him had his chest feeling warm and light. Every stroke was done with absolute care and precision. Each highlight brought to life more of what made Tony, Tony and not just an image on the screen.

There was a sparkle in the picture Tony’s eyes and little lines by the corner of his eyes and mouth as though he had just been caught laughing and Steve had managed to capture that very moment. The more Steve drew and the more finished the picture because the more Tony could see the care and dedication that Steve put into every stroke of his pen.

It wasn’t that Steve didn’t care about every piece of art that he made. He did. It was just a different type of caring that Tony could see. The work done for school was done to advance his skills and get a good grade. The work done on commission was done to please the buyer and make sure to keep a good customer base that would keep him continually employed.

The care that was put into this drawing however was similar to the sketches Tony had watched Steve do of Bucky and other members of his family. They had an extra level to them because Steve cared about the subject he was committing to paper. It was being included in that special group that had Tony’s heart fluttering in his chest.

Bucky was Steve’s best friend since they were kids terrorizing the neighborhood. Steve’s family was family, enough said on that front. Tony was just his roommate however. Or at least that’s what Tony told himself each time his own thoughts wandered to less platonic musings about Steve. They were just roommates so he needed to put those thoughts away in a box and keep them under lock and key before they got him in trouble due to their unwelcome nature. At least that’s what Tony had believed. Now he wasn’t so sure.

Turning his attention from moderating the chat to look at Steve, Tony couldn’t help but notice the intense concentration that Steve was giving to his work. It was the same look that Tony wanted focused on him and now in a way it was as Steve worked to capture everything that made up Tony in a single image.

_fickle_love_ : Wow, Tony is a cutie  
 _VenusDeMilo76_ : No wonder Steve flirts with him all the time  
 _FadedTech_ : Can’t blame him. I know I’d be all over that if I had half a chance

Tony choked out a laugh as he took in the general theme the chat had taken on as Steve added more and more detailed to the picture.

“Everything okay?” Steve asked looking up from the tablet he was working on.

“Oh uh yeah I’m good,” Tony answered carefully knowing that he could be heard on the stream and not wanting to put Steve on the spot just because he was attracted to the blonde. “The chat has just has an interesting take on your picture.”

Steve paused in his drawing to take his own look at the chat since Tony would usually just pass on anything that he needed to know about or had found amusing. The artist’s lips ticked up in a smirk as he read over what his viewers were saying.

“Well it’s good to see that they think the picture is true to life,” Steve said thoughtfully as he looked between the picture, the chat, and Tony before nodding his head decisively and watching for Tony’s reaction. “I’d hate to think that I wasn’t doing your cute face justice.”

Tony’s head snapped up in surprise, mouth falling open as he tried to slow his racing mind down enough to say something, say anything. His cheeks heated up in a bright flush as Steve’s words sank in.

“Wh - What?” he asked helplessly, unable to make sense of his dream of Steve liking him back actually coming true right in front of him.

Steve just smiled and leaned forward, placing a quick chaste kiss on Tony’s cheek before sitting back and going back to his drawing.

“Apparently I’m been more subtle than I thought,” Steve commented absently as he added in some shading to reflect Tony’s current blush into his picture. “Don’t worry though, I’ll make sure to fix that from now on.”

Tony just sat there in shock while Steve worked as though he hadn’t just gone and tipped Tony’s whole world on its side. Out of the corner of his eye Tony could see the chat box going crazy as everyone watching felt the need to comment on what had just happened. Their regular viewers were gushing about how cute it all was and how happy they were for Tony and Steve. Some of the newer viewers were giving a perfunctory congratulations while a few obnoxious people like _noobmaster69_ were leaving rude or derogatory comments that would get them banned just as soon as Tony’s head came back down from the clouds.

“You’ve been living with me for two years now and you thought subtle was the way to go?” Tony quipped with a smile on his face as he went back to his job of moderating the chat, kicking out the assholes, and answering questions that were popping up about were they would go on their first date and if this would mean more cute portraits of the moderator.

Steve chuckled as his pen flew across the tablet bringing Tony to life on the screen. “Silly me. How could I have made such a mistake? Don’t worry though. I don’t tend to make the same ones twice.”

Tony grinned widely at the response. This was what he enjoyed so much about being around Steve. The back and forth that they could get going always kept him on his toes and never left him bored. Now there was so much more of that to look forward to and he couldn’t wait.

“Bigger and better mistakes,” Tony said, looking up and meeting Steve’s eyes over their laptops. “Nothing I would like better.”


End file.
